The main aim of this study was to determine and evaluate urinary excretion values of uranium in occupationally unexposed subjects from Nigeria. As several uranium mines are running in Nigeria and the operations could be a risk of contamination for the workers as well as for the members of the public, biomonitoring of urine could provide information about the exposure to uranium for the subjects...

Uranium oxide particles were dispersed into the environment from a factory in Colonie (NY, USA) by prevailing winds during the 1960s and '70s. Uranium concentrations and isotope ratios from bulk soil samples have been accurately measured using inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS) without the need for analyte separation chemistry. The natural range of uranium concent...

SRTC evaluated the feasibility of using the H Canyon on-line diode array spectrophotometer to measure uranium concentrations in Tank 16.7. On-line measurements will allow an increase in highly enriched uranium (HEU) production by removing delays associated with off-line measurements. The instrument must be able to measure uranium at concentrations below 1.0 g/L with an uncertainty no greater th...

The dissolution of uranium was investigated from contaminated sediments obtained at the US. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) Hanford site. The uranium existed in the sediments as uranyl silicate microprecipitates in fractures, cleavages, and cavities within sediment grains. Uranium dissolution was studied in Na, Na-Ca, and NH4 electrolytes with pH ranging from 7.0 to 9.5 under ambient CO2 pressu...

In situ leaching of uranium ores with sulfuric acid during active uranium mining activity on the Gessenheap has caused longstanding environmental problems of acid mine drainage and elevated concentrations of uranium. To study there remediation measures the test site Gessenwiese, a recultivated former uranium mining heap near Ronnenburg/East Thuringia/Germany, was installed as a part of a resear...

At one hand uranium is an element of considerable technological importance. In nuclear power plants uranium is used as fuel. Other than this, uranium has no significant commercial use. On the other hand uranium is highly toxic and radioactive heavy metal that mainly originates from nuclear-related activities and causes significant environmental and public health problems by its presence in terr...

In the face of depletion of fossil resources, the development of nuclear power in the world is inevitable. Poland is one of the few developed countries, which does not have a nuclear power plant [1]. Therefore, The programme of Polish nuclear energy has recently been implemented. Simultaneously, the interest in domestic uranium ores, which fi rst appeared in the fi ftieth of the previous centur...

The goal of this work is a detailed study of uranium detection by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for application to activities associated with environmental surveillance and detecting weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The study was used to assist development of LIBS instruments for standoff detection of bulk radiological and nuclear materials and these materials distributed as con...

The contribution of variable grain sizes to uranium adsorption/desorption was studied using a sediment from the US DOE Hanford site. The sediment was wet sieved into four size fractions: coarse sand (1-2 mm), medium sand (0.2-1 mm), fine sand (0.053-0.2 mm), and clay/silt fraction (<0.053 mm). For each size fraction and their composite (sediment), batch and flow-cell experiments were performed ...

The environmental issues concerning uranium mining and milling have long been paid considerable attention in wide aspects in the world [1–4]. It is well known that the industrial activities of mining and milling of uranium ores can lead to release of a tremendous amount of radioactive pollutants (wastewater and tailings, as representative carrier) that consist typically of U and Th compounds. A...